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Slavery in llie Uiiltei States Eiiiaiiclptioii in Missoiri. 



SPEECH 



SAMUEL T. GLOVER, 



RATIFICATION MEETING IN ST. LOUIS. 



HELD AT THE 



COURT HOUSE, JULY '22, 18(i3. 




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SPEECH 



SAMUEL T. GLOYER, 



Batlfieation Meeting Held at the Court Honse, in St. Lonis, July 22d, 1863. 



My Friends: I shall direct your attention to-night to some important events 
in our political history ; and to several striking aspects which that history has 
developed. I shall, if I can, show you the condition of our unhappy country, and 
declare my convictions of the duty of the people. The British colonies of North 
America proclaimed themselves independent of the mother country, July 4lh, 
1776. The war which had been in progress prior to that event was substantially 
ended in 1781. January, 1783, peace was made. Since then the United States 
OF America have held legal status among the nations of the earth. A short period, 
my friends, for the life of a nation: if it so be that the nation is now to close its 
bright career and die. The form of the Government was not only peculiar, but it 
wag anew, untried experiment. One of its most interesting features was this: 
that the nation had but a few powers accorded to it ; the States retaining all the 
residue of governmental authority. Domestic systems and policies were placed 
under State jurisdiction. National and foreign administration were confided to tlie 
^ Union. It was a noble system, deemed by many (of whom I am one) a form of gov- 
ernment essential to the to the liberties of every people extending over a large coun- 
try. This most curious and till then, perhaps, unknown feature of social order, was 
developed in the practice of the new government : that one State might adopt and 



inculcate a policy directly opposed to the policy of another State; and even to the 
policy of the nation. Our first parents, while inhabiting the garden of Eden, were 
not more free in many respects to choose the good and evil which were placed before 
them than were those local jurisdictions to lay out for themselves the foundations of 
their social domestic economy. Such were and have been admitted to be the 
powers of the National and such the powers of the State Governments. The Na- 
tional Government never interferred with this arrangement. The States them- 
selves have claimed and exercised all the powers which have been acknowledged 
to belong to them. The institutions which they have seen fit to adopt are tleir' 
own. The benefits which they have derived from these institutions are the just 
rewards of their wisdom and forecast. The injuries, if any, the consequence of 
their own follies. 

It is now some eighty years since the people of these States, under a Govern- 
ment so constituted, enjoyed the right to administer their own aff'airs. The 
period that has elapsed embraces four generations of men ; an ample time for the 
development of principles and some satisfatory observation of their influence on 
Government and social relations. Let us hope that the lights of these eighty years, 
which have been steadily beaming on the progress ef our country, have not shone 
in vain. The close of the period finds us engaged in civil war ; the contest the 
most stupendous which the world has seen ; no such stakes have hitherto been 
played for by armed combatants ; no such armies, it is believed, either in ancient 
or modern times, have trod the earth. This controversy is not of to-day. Its causes 
are to be found in the far past. An eloquent Frencliman has remarked, that by 
a striking coincidence in 1620 the Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock a handful of 
iohite men. That in the same year another ship, supposed to be Dutch, passed up 
James river and put on shore a small cargo of black men ; and thence deduces the 
source of all our troubles. My friends, there was another controversy some hun- 
dred and twenty-eight years ago, which, perhaps, typified and foreshadowed the 
pending struggle. That was not a question of arms, but a peaceful contest, where 
judges presided and lawyers appeared and witnesses testified. I refer to the dis- 
pute between proprietors of lands claiming under William Penn, the Quaker father 
and founder of Pennsylvania, and Sir Cecil Calvert, (Lord Baltimore) who sus- 
tained the same relation to Maryland, touching the line between these provinces of 
the British Crown. The calls of the respective grants were vague, and the ques- 
tions of interference difiicult. In 1735 a suit was brought in the English Chancery 
to adjust the boundary. In 17G3 our countryman, the ingenious and learned David 
Rittenhouse, was called upon to run the line. No adjustment was had till 1769, 
when the astronomers. Mason and Dixson, were sent over from England under in- 
structions to locate the boundary by astronomic determination. In that morning 
hour of Young America, when the earth was almost as it came from the Creator's 
touch; when a virgin soil and a blooming wilderness stretched away from the head 
of the Chesapeake Bay "to Susquehanna's outmost springs ;" when all was so rich 
and beautiful ; it was necessary to cut into the land, and to mark upon its surface 
and upon its trees and rocks the permanent and visible signs by which it was di- 
vided between Penn and Baltimore. It was necessary then to provide a means a 
whereby the respective proprietors could tell which was which, and where Penn- 
sylvania ended and Maryland began. But, my friends, all this was in 1735, more 
than a century ago. The aspects of the country arc not now what they were then. 



Since Mason find Dixon -wont back to London (o file their report of survey in the 
Court of Chancery, Pennsylvania and Maryland have followed the lines of separate 
policies. Pennsylvania has set up her "institutions," and Maryland hers. In 
1863 there is no difficulty in finding the line between them. The traveler who 
first set foot on this continent yesterday detects it without the slightest effort. He 
needs no compass. It is not necessary to lock at the stars. lie has only to turn his 
eyes upon the earth; and he may follow it with almost as much certainty as he can 
the Buffalo and Albany Canal. A worn out and bairen soil, a stunted agricultural 
vegetation, fields abandoned by the husbandman, dilapidated inclosures, inferior 
architectural structures, and an almost universal face of decay, tell him that the 
Southern side of that line has been more than a century under the watchful care of 
the guardian genius of Maryland. The line which was run and marked by Mason 
and Dixon, for the mere purpose of limiting the proprietors of Maryland and Penn- 
sylvania, was destined to acquire, in the course of years, a consequence and import- 
ance of which they little dreamed. They intended it to limit adjoining proprietors. 
It has been made the dividing line of social and economical systems. They made 
it to separate two young and feeble colonies of the mother country, then having 
no history or political importance. It has been seized upon to separate many 
States, to divide the American nation, to destroy its glorious Union, and to limit 
on the North a new empire, to be erected within the Southern portion of the Re- 
public. That which was once a mere parallel of latitude has been diverted north 
from tlie southwest course of Pennsylvania to the Ohio river ; thence down the 
Ohio, with its meanders to the ^lississippi river ; thence up the Missis- 
sippi, dividing Missouri from Illinois, and thence in a course, to surround the 
States of Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, to the Rio Grande del Norte, which it follows 
to the sea. I will not delay you with the history of this boundary, the contests it 
has created, the bitterness it has engendered. Suffice it that for forty years Mason 
and Dixon's line, straight, or crooked, has been the watchword of politicians, mor- 
alists, religionists. The people have been taught to call a portion of the national 
domain, on one side, "the North," on the other, "the South." We have been ac- 
customed to hear much of Northern and Southern men, and Northern and South- 
ern principles. Our schools, in which have been trained the rising minds and pas- 
sions of the nation, are branded with this distinction. Even our churches are 
Nortliern and Southern churches, as if the altars of our religion had been devoted 
to Northern and Southern Gods. The future historian, whose duty it shall be to 
reflect the aspects of this great drama, will remark that the tortuosity of the line 
is but the representation of the ebb and flow of popular passion — of the triumphs 
and defeats of parties during the whole period of our national existence. As more 
immediately touching the recent outbreak, it will be his duty to record, that though 
this line range through ten degrees of latitude, and bears to almost every point of 
the compass, and passes through several varieties of climate and soil, and classes 
of population, yet that everywhere this line has been the line of the rebellion. 
That, in the language of the day, Missouri is a Southern State, and Illinois, 
Indiana and Ohio are Northern States; that while the latter maintained their al- 
legiance and preserved the peace, people of Missouri — away here in the cold 
North, including the larger number of the oflicers of the State — raised the stand- 
ard of revolt, and levied war upon the nation, professedly to secure their " South- 
ern rights." Surely this is a curious aspect of the controversy — that Missouri, 



repuilialing her neighborhood, and even her climate, should seek for interests not 
identified with Iowa nor Illinois ; but supposed interests wliieh the revolters deemed 
themselves to possess in common with South Carolina and Georgia. 

My friends, there is another aspect of the case on which I would tix your atten- 
tion. It is a fact, attested by eighty years of history, that in general, mankind do 
not like to live within that charmed circle bounded by the straight and crooked 
Mason and Dixon's line. I do not deem it material now to inquire the cause. I 
assert the fact, and leave it for your own solution: that mankind in general shun 
the better institutions and purer social systems that are claimed to exist in that 
area. The Southern soil is richer, but, men in general, prefer the poorer lands of 
the North. The area contained within the boundary is greater, but the larger 
area at the end of eighty years has less voluntary population by one-half. The 
climate on the south of the line is more genial, but in the general men prefer the 
more inhospitable Northern air. Here is a problem for naturalists and socialists 
alike. Why should people, being free to choose their own abodes, turn away in dis- 
gust from this lovely country ? Ho?r are we to account for such a difference as 
eight and eighteeen millions ? In the South we know there is an involuntary pop- 
ulation — people who have been carried there and held there against their will. 
The presence of these in no manner redeems the hard features of this aspect. If 
you add the whole colored population, bond and free, the difference will be twelve 
to eighteen millions. It is remarkable that such a fact should exist of a country 
whose soil, climate and other natural advantages are so superior. It is wonder- 
ful that while the institutions of a country are so much lauded, so many of the 
people who are born under them should hasten to get away ; and that of all those 
who come from abroad to make their homes among us, so few comparatively, 
should be willing to cast their lot on the sunny side of Mason and Dixon's line. 
The fact, however, is undeniable. It stands out on the surface of the Southern sys- 
tem, in bold and terrible relief. The deep channel of the Jlississippi, indenting 
its way to the Gulf; the wild sweep of the Alleghany range lifting its crest into 
the clouds, are objects not more distinctly or permanently marked upon the earth 
than is this feature upon the sociality of the South. It is your duty and the duty 
of all men to reach the cause of this dreadful fact. Is it supposed some deadly 
poison mingles with Southern fountains, which men would avoid ? No. Do they 
deem there is there some Upas tree, whose malarium tints the air, and whose taste 
is mortal? Not at all. Why is it that millions and millions of our race should be 
repelled from the fairest portion of this continent ? My friends, the earthquake, 
whose yawning chasm should engulf the British islands in an hour, would annihi- 
late a quantum of intellectual power, and moral and social influence, and industrial 
energies and physical resources, and national and individual wealtii. whose less 
would be felt upon the earth to the latest syllable of recorded time. 

But what ought to be said of the partial annihilation of another country more 
than ten times the magnitude of the British isles, by inclosing it in a sort of moral 
Chinese wall, that in the lapse of only eighty years has excluded from happy 
homes not less than ten millions of our race ? Is this the working of a wise or 
prudent plan of social or political economy? Is it in accordance with God's provi- 
dence that the manifold bounties of nature in all this vast region should be shut 
out in this way from so large a number of his dependent creatures? 

My friends, I shall pass rapidly over the next important development of this 



5 

history. The National Government, in the course of its administnition, raisca a 
revenue from several sources, and this revenue is distributed for the common 
benefit. Never has that portion of the national domain, lying south of the line, 
yielded an income equal to necessary expenditures within its limits — whether it 
has been the national defenses, the support of the army or navy, the Post Ofifice 
Department, or the purposes of commerce, with its coast surveys — its custom- 
houses, lighthouses, buoys and dredge boats — the south has been a lueudicant on 
the treasury of the nation, yielding less than it needed — receiving more than it 
ever returned. I make no comment on these facts. The national records attest 
their truth. I throw them before you and leave them. Time is the wisest of coun- 
selors ; and these are his advices. 

Allow me to mention another of these political aspects. It is kuown to the 
whole world — has never been disputed, and excites a painful attention. It is 
this : that there so little is done for the intellectual culture of the inhabitants. 
Colleges exist — many of them are well endowed. The rich enjoy the advantages 
of education ; in general, the poor do not. Of these it may be said emphatically, 
as has been said of the dead in an English grave-yard: 

" But knowledge to their eyes her ample page ; 
Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll ; 
Chill penury repressed their noble rage, 
And froze the genial current of tlie soul."' 

No facilities for general dissemination of knowledge exist at the South. As re- 
gards the involuntai-y population, the laws require them to remain in eternal ig- 
norance. A domestic policy long established, shuts out every ray of science from 
their benighted understandings ; closes their eyes against ever beholding the re- 
vealed will of God which is intended to guide to a better world. As to the volun- 
tary population, it is fair to state their education would be preferred. But it cannot 
be. The case is one where good intentions go for nothing. The white population 
is too sparse. And, in general, the cause of common schools is hopeless at the 
South. In 1850 there were in the North l-t,883 public libraries ; in the South only 
713. In the North 89,200 primary schools; in the South only 7,201. In the 
North were receiving instruction in primary schools 1,645,128 pupils; in the 
South only 200,005. Now you know my friends, how common it has been here to 
speak of the beneficence of Southern institutions. But what are these institutions 
of which we speak? Is is possible that we have dignified slavery with the title 
" our institutions ? " Have we ceased to think of trial by jury, of popular sufi'rage, 
of freedom of speech and the press, of habeas corpus and frequent Legislatures ; 
and have we failed to consider the general enlightenment of the people as a ne- 
cessary foundation and support to these, and all these, and of public virtue ? 
There is no misfortune sd calamitous to a State as popular ignorance. There is 
no predicament so pitiable as that which a people are hurried to destruction by 
guilty leaders, while all unconscious of the fact. Where general ignorance pre- 
vails, there prevails stolid immobility, or faction moved by sudden impulses, 
lashed, it may be, into wild, ungovernable fury. Without knowledge there is no 
improvement, and without improvement there is no hope. A State may success- 
fully encounter war, pestilence, or famine ; or, all together. For these there are 
remedies in the course of nature. If war comes he shakes as with a giant's tread the 



6 

pillars and foundationB of the State. He buflfets rudely our social and civil rela- 
lions and riglits. He passes by our homes and they are filled ■with mourning. He 
passes over our fields and they are blasted and blackened by his fiery bolts. 
Famine may slay his thousands, and pestilence his tens of thousands. But I have 
Maid these are transient evils. Victory conquers or exhaustion mitigates the 
miseries of war. At length the frightful spectre departs, and beautiful and gentle 
peace resumes her sway. The plague that walketh in darkness, that horrifies the 
midday as well as the midnight hour, vanishes on the breath of morning. The 
mayflower expands her fair coronal above the bleak skeleton ; and from fields 
ensanguined with heroic blood, the rajjk harvest springs forth to bless the land 
with plenty. 

The moral desolation of the soul knows neither spring time nor autumn ; where 
nothing is planted, nothing is gathered. Shut out the lights of knowledge from 
the human mind, and there is no compensation in the course of nature ; but all is 
dark and despairing, and of downward tendency. By this process you may rear 
and maintain the massive proportions of Russian and Turkish despotism, but 
never — never — a free republic. 

You are, perhaps, prepared to hear that these social aspects have found their 
counterparts in the political sentiments of the South; that, in general, the broad 
charter of human rights is there repudiated; that there the great plea of Jefferson 
for humanity — '• that all men are created equal," endowed by their Creator with 
certain inalienable rights, that among these are "life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness," is generally rejected. That in lieu thereof there has been proclaimed 
another doctrine, which is that there is no standard of human rights; no such 
thing as liberty fouuded on principles of equality and justice; that the law of the 
strongest is the true social law ; that he who has the power to enslave his fellow 
man, has the right to do it; that weak men and weak nations are naturally, and, 
therefore, morally, the fair game of strong men and strong nations. You must 
not object that this is the spirit exactly which governs the beasts of the field. 
That the bull, the bear, and the tiger, long since established the same system. It 
might be regarded as disrespectful to gentlemen who have not claimed to be a 
tribe of New Zealanders, but a school of philosophers, who write essays and 
books, and who have invoked all the instincts of avarice and power, suborned even 
(he ministrations of religion to maintain their policy of absolutism over the bodies 
and minds of men. It is within the menory of young persons when these unfeeling 
dogmas were applied by the slavery perpetuationisfs to the black race alone. But 
error, like truth, is progressive, and they are now made to embrace all mankind. 
They admit the right of no human being to more of immunity than can be won by 
strategy, or seized and held by force. Mr. Calhoun undertook, about the year 
1848, to prepare a disquisition on Government, embodying the new philosophy of 
SoutherE type. It was marked by all the subtleness and daring of its author. It was 
no covert attack on popular liberty, but a bold, defiant assault upon all free insti- 
tutions known in the world. I have time only to state its fundamental points : 
(1.) That numerical majorities should not control, for they respect neither reason, 
truth, or justice. (2.) It is better to trust the minority. (3.) That each different 
interest in society should have its separate llepresentative in the Legislature, and 
hold a vote on its action. (4.) The prevalent opinion tliat " all'men are created 
etjual." is false. (o.) That among the various forms of Government a men- 



archy is most susceptible of improvement ; for it is a kindly, parental govornmcni. 
(6.) That a heriditary nobility tends to increase protection and security to all the 
people. No where in the disquisition on Government does this restless leader of 
the Southern movement expressly denounce popular government; no where does 
he ask the Southrons to inaugurate an aristocracy and enthrone a king. But it ia 
evident that such was the aii;; of the book. My friends, the doctrines of this work 
are the underlying stratum of Southern society. If the revolutionary movement 
shall succeed, the coming empire of the cotton Caliphs will take its form and 
pressure from them; and the future sultans of New Orleans and Mobile and 
Charleston will quote them with all the reverence with which Moslem ever quoted 
the Koran. It is the curious and interesting inquiry of the naturalist to discover 
what are the causes which, working slowly but certainly in the recesses of the 
earth, have finally resulted in some striking phenomenon of nature. The geolo- 
gist presumes to tell us, in this way, how lakes and rivers are formed ; how table 
lands are heaved up from the bottom of the ocean ; and how, after long cycles of 
time, they sink down again into its bosom. The moralist has a not dissimilar task 
to trace the causes which have quietly undermined the convictions of a free people, 
and reversed all the motives and principles of their social order, which, in a period 
of less than fifty years, have moved them to demolish their young liberties, and to 
build up instead, aristocratic and monarchic institutions. What, I ask, has been 
the cause of this most wonderful social and political phenomenon ? What has ex- 
pelled and repelled population from this delightful country ? What has repressed 
therein the dilFusion of knowledge? What has impoverished its soil and enervated 
its industrj"^ ? Why have the Southern people generally become the inveterate 
enemies of free government ? And how does it happen that such opinions gener- 
ally prevail among a people to whom the "fierce democracy " of Jeftcrson was so 
lately an inspired oracle'.' The answer to these questions may possibly be found 
in the error that was committed in 1789. That error, I humbly submit, was the 
acquiescence then yielded to slavery — the endeavor to build and maintain free- 
dom on such a foundation. The conventional forms of government in those States 
which saw fit to retain the peculiar institution were fair. They embodied the 
principles of civil liberty and failed only in the application of these principles. It 
was especially provided in several of the constitutions of these States that no titles 
of nobility should exist; while, in fact a worse, evil than any titled nobility was 
recognized and protected by their laws. Any citizen might lawfully own a thou- 
sand or ten thousand of his fellow men, and control their conduct as no Lord, 
Marquis, Duke or Earl had ever thought of doing. There was a great statute of 
England, known as the habeas corpus act. The principles of this enactment were 
identified with the struggles for liberty in that country for two centuries. It had 
come down to the men of 1789, associated with the sufferings and triumphs, and 
fame of patriot martyrs. The purpose of the statute was to secure to every person 
restrained of his liberty a speedy hearing, and thus prevent protracted and unjust 
imprisonment. Every lawyer knows what Blackstone has said of this statute: 

" That to bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate without 
accusation, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism as must at once 
convey the alarm of tyranny throuhout the whole nation ; but confinement of the 
person by secretly hurrying him to jail is a less public, less striking, and, there- 
fore, more dangerous engine of arbitrary govcrnuiont." 



For such reasons our ancestors revered the habeas corpus act. They incorporated 
it into the Federal Constitution, and almost all the Constitutions of the States. 
But while they did so, they knew that in nearly every one of these States there 
were men who were subject to the caprice of other men ; whose liberties had long 
been extinguished; who had never been permitted to acquire the least property ; 
who were denied the family relation, and whose persons were undergoing a per- 
petual imprisonment, without crime and without accusation. 

It was almost universally conceded, in 1787, that slavery was an evil, and ought 
to pass away. But the "peculiar institution" " wished to be let alone." The 
slave owners were willing to abolish; but looked forward to a more propitious 
season. These professions were listened to ; and slavery was not abolished. The 
benefit of the /labeas corpus was secured to the white man ; but denied to 
the African. It was a curious error. It was a singular conclusion that men, who 
could not be trusted to do justice to one of their own race, would voluntarily re- 
spect the rights of another and inferior people. The slaves were not only not 
emancipated, but their number was increased by importations from Africa. The 
growth of the "institution" constantly drove out free labor, and in doing so ex- 
pelled the middle class of society, tending to leave none but the wealthy planter 
and the slave. The decrease of the middle class has always furnished the certain 
proof of the decay of liberty. Here, then, situated on our southern and south- 
eastern seaboard, was the vigorous germ of an aristocracy. 

It is in vain to suppose that, under such circumstances, men will cherish the 
principles of freedom. Example is ever more potent than precept. The daily 
practice of slavery tends to destroy the sentiments of liberty. And thus it was 
that ARISTOCRACY rose, confronting and defying popular government. 

It has been supposed that slavery transformed the South. That it assumed con- 
trol of the social circle, and ruled it with an imperious sway. That it won the 
beholder with tlie splendors and fascinations of wealth, while it awed and repelled 
him by the presence of a caste whose outer courts he could never enter without 
subscribing to all its inexorable dogmas. That it grasped the ballot-box and 
dominated it with the same unswerving energy which had swayed the empire of 
Southern Ion and fashion. That it elected Governors and Legislatures and Con- 
gresses, dictated to National Conventions, made and unmade Presidents and par- 
ties; ruled us at home, and threatened and defied the world. That albeit this 
interest represented a small minority of the American people, its influence im- 
pressed itself on our treaties with foreign nations, and in the year of our Lord, 
184G, the nation undertook and carried on a great and expensive war: a war of 
conquest — a war of injustice — to gratify the behests of this caste. It has been 
asserted that from the close of the Mexican war the slave power was triumphant. 
That orators, statesmen, philosophers, poets, paid an humble homage at its foot- 
stool. 

That, in 18G0, a pro-slavery literature, a pro-slavery politics, and a pro-slavery 
religion had been fully installed. The result had been reached by the energy of 
a caste bound together by one interest, and impelled by one ambition, checked by 
no other class of the people, for in their section there was no other class of suffi- 
cient power ; opposed by no other interest, for they sufi"ered no other interest to 
exist there. The power of the caste, felt first in the far South, extended its in- 
fluence toward the Nortli, until the border slave States were deeply imbued with 



9 

its spirit. Amazed at their success and swollen with conceit and vanity, (lie 
planters were induced to regard themselves as the special bantlings of Heaven, 
called by Providence to govern the country. The consequence is, the civil war 
now raging. It has been justly denominated a pro-slavery war. It is impossible 
to magnify its wickedness. It is impossible to exaggerate the injury which it must 
intlict upon our people or upon the world. 

My friends, let no one suppose that in gathering these proofs of the past, I lay 
to the account of all the Southern people the general conduct of their section. 
Far from it. Many of our purest patriots and ablest statesmen have been South- 
ern men. Let no one suspect me of a spirit of malevolence toward slaveholders. 
I own none of that sympathy for the slave which exhausts itself in hatred of the 
uiaster. The men who have struggled hardest and sacrificed most to resit perni- 
cious tendencies and arbitrary resolutions of their section, have been Southern 
men. That slaveholders cannot be or are not as truly loyal as non-slaveholders, 
I know to be an atrocious calumny. If the Southern people are no better, they 
are no worse than others. Tlieir errors have sprung not from any peculiarity of 
the people, but from the presence of an unfortunate institution, whose existence 
attaches upon the whole country. North and South. But we cannot if wo would, 
shut out the light of experience. We cannot, we dare not ignore the causes of 
this war. 

It, is well to understand that the vital principle of the war is hostility to free- 
dom. That it began in the interest of slavery and is prosecuted for the perpetu- 
AT lox OF SLAVERY ; and that it is in the Providence of God, that no such question 
can ever find repose in compromises. If peace were declared to-day, and the 
limits set to a new empire, whose mission should be the perpetuation and exten- 
sion of slavery, the contest would not be ended. The spirit of liberty, and tJie 
spirit of humanity would laugh to scorn your puny efforts to circumscribe their 
power. The principles of war Avould survive your treaties, and with them would 
survive all the strife and all the agony. If tliere was to-day situated on our 
southern coast an independent nation, embracing six millions of white men and 
jour millions of slaves, and based upon the policy of perpetuation, the fabric 
would contain, within itself, the certain causes of its own destruction : opposition 
to slavery from Vithin, and opposition to slavery from without, would shock the 
State with unremitting assaults. In course of the next eighty years, even if tlie 
slave trade to Africa were not revived, the slaves would increase to more tlian 
sixty millions of souls ! The perpetuationist will ask you, when you urge upon 
liim the business of emancipation, what you propose to do with four millions of 
emancipated slaves. The inquiry is a serious one, and calls for the profoundest 
statesmanship of our times. AH reflecting minds concede its magnitude. Hut 
tlierc is another question, in comparison with whicli even this grave inquiry sinks 
into insignificance : what will you do with sixteen millions of slaves at the end of 
forty years '! What will you do with sixty millions of slaves at the end of eiglity 
years ? As the slave population increases, the white population will decrease : 
and what is to be the fate of the white population of the South ? Here is tlie 
(juestion of questions which looms up, in a li'irililc liiture, and dcinands tor (he 
South a policy wisely adapted to that future. What, is slavery to be to the South 
when the rebellion is suppressed ? What is slavery to )>e to the Siuith when if has 

2 



10 

realized its dream of separation ? Will it, can it, have peace ? Never — never. 

There is but one policy adapted to the subject — slavery must cease to exist. 
The miseries of the past proclaim it. The hopes of the future demand it. I con- 
cede the whole subject is full of difficulty. Everywhere the practical working of 
emancipation is involved in itocertainty, and embarrassed with complicationn. 
lie who imagines that he can solve this great problem by one act ; that he can 
explore its dim future, and grasp already its manifold relations and thick coming 
necessities, has not yet formed the slightest conception of the subject. But if 
there are great difficulties in adjusting emancipation — difficulties in forecasting 
its results and providing for its working — there are yet greater difficulties in the 
policy of perpetuation. This is certain ; and Missouri has done wisely to assume 
all '.he responsibility of the emancipation policy. Missouri has achieved an hon- 
orable distinction in being the first to set the great and necessary example. By 
her noble ordimance she has placed slavery in a course of gradual and rapid 
extinction. Slavery has existed in North America for two hundred and forty- 
three years — on tlie soil of Missouri for more than a century — and under Amer- 
ican governments. State and Territory, nearly sixty years. By the recent action 
of your Convention she rids herself of the institution forever in seven years I 
Would to God that ordinance had reached every slave on this continent. But it 
seems we are not here, my friends, to accept this great organic law, not here to 
offer thanks to God for so great a boon ; but to defend it against violent and bitter 
assaults. Nothing is so good as to escape opposition. The Savior of men was 
cracitied by those whom he came to save. Our charcoal friends object to this 
ordinance because it is gradual and not immediate. And yet it is only about four 
months ago that the whole Charcoal party were the earnest, united advocates of grad- 
ual emancipation ! In March last they demanded the adoption of this system. Now 
that their opinion has been followed, they denounce their oien scheme. What 
reason can they assign for this ? We know that St. Paul was converted by a 
divine manifestation — a great and sudden light that burst upon him from heaven. 
I have heard of no miracle which happened to the Charcoals, but still they are all 
converted in this brief period to oppose so fiercely their own doctrine ! How, or 
when they were converted, is for them to show. They object to 1870 as the time 
when slavery shall cease. Yet they were exceedingly anxious for 1866 and the 
apprenticeship. A part of them were for 1868. But when, by the resolution of 
couHicting opinions, 1870 was fixed upon, and nothing better could be had from 
the Convention, the Charcoals pronounced it an outrage. If I am not misinformed, 
the Hon. Mr. Drake has declared that it is a "damnable outrage," which is as 
strong language as a good Presbyterian ought to employ. Had not Mr. Drake been 
a devout Christian, there is no telling what, under the pressure of worldly wrath 
and vanity, he niiglit have said against this magna charter of liberty. The 
Charcoals now propose to commence a ten years' agitation to secure, forsooth. 
1866 ! But tlie Convention released the slaves from taxes; and this is a loss tlie 
Charcoals can never endure. The unfortunate victim who had a roseleaf doubled 
under him, ergo — could not sleep, knew no affliction compared to what the Char- 
coals suffer on account of these taxes. My friends, how much taxes would have 
been saved to the State if their last plan of immediate emancipation had pre- 
vailed? How much had they succeeded in getting 1 866 or 1 868 ? Suppose the 



11 

average life of an able bodied slave is loriy years, value SI(H), imir yeius in ilio 
tenth of the life and $40 the tenth of the value. \<n\ see wlial is the sum to he 
taxed and how utterly unworthy tliis clamor is. ISut our Charcoals ndmii tliev 
ought to compensate, if possible, for slaves emancipated — thatjusfice di'iii.iudcd ji. 
They have never done it. And until they do, they are honestly estopped to object to 
this release of taxes. They admit they ought to provide for the young, tlie old, the 
sick, the lame, the idiotic, and the blind. They have never done it; and until they 
do, humanity and decency forbid this ungenerous brawling. It is next asserted that 
an ORDINANCE of gradual emancipation is a mere "cheat " and " swindle,'' that it 
sets no slave free, and is a measure in the interest of slavery ! It is very likely 
that the man who has been sentenced by Judge Clover to be hung on Friday, 
regards that judgement as one purposely intended to save him from the gallows ! 
Most certainly it looks that way, aiul most certainly his honor is party to the 
fraud! The only wonder is the perpetuationists all voted against it. They 
thought it might possibly emancipate their slaves, "but this "swindle," as it is 
called, has a history, and I beg a moment's time to present it. In January or 
February, 18t)2, the President held a consultation of his Cabinet upon the subject. 
TJie result was, ]Mr. Lincoln recommended " gradual emancipation " to Congress. 
So the President and the Cabinet were the first sicindLers. Mr. Drake, whose nice 
preceptions of virtue, and exquisite moral taste have been so rudely shocked by 
an ORDINANCE of gradual emancipation, was perhaps innocent of this guilt. 1 do 
not know that prior to 1862 he had ever been known to utter an anti-slavery senii- 
ment. It is well known that before that time slavery had no humbler or fonder 
worshiper than he. April 10, 1862, the Congress not only endorsed the so-called 
"swindle," but oifered to compensate any State whose jieople should adopt it. 
(Jh, the abominable knaves I May 18, 1862, Mr. Lincoln again recommended it by 
proclamation. Dishonest man! June 15, 1862, the Charcoals met in Jefferson 
City, and adopted the following resolution, among others : 

•^Resolved, That we are in favor of initiating forthwith a system of emancipa- 
tion for the State of Missouri, gradual in its character, and the operation of which 
shall be so adjusted as not to work injury to the pecuniary interest of any loyal 
citizen, ichose vested property rights may be involved, and not to disttirh b>/ ani/ 
ciolcnt disruption, present social relations in our community." 

Noble patriots ! September 22, 1862, ^Ir. Lincoln again recommended the same 
scheme by proclamation. Oh, the dishonest cheat ! December, 1862, the Presi- 
dent, once more, in his Message to Congress, pressed upon the country the subject 
of emancipation, urging compensation, whether the work should be gradual or 
immediate, and naming the year 1900 as the limit for its accomplishment, Oil, 
the vile old Copperhead ! In March, 1863, our Charcoal friends again met in con- 
sultation. They abandoned all their former predilections for immcdiatism ! Tliey 
prepared and signed solemnly a written pledge to the country in favor of '' [/radual 
emancipation .' ! " a judicious plan of gradual emancipation as the best thing for 
Missouri! ! ! Able statesmen, exhalted patriots. In June, 1863, the Convention 
met, the Governor recommended, and the Convention passed an Ordinance of 
emancipation, "gradual emancipation." Oli, the despicable swindlers — tlie 
"damnable" cheats — the vile Copperlieads ! who docs not perceive that a fraud 
was intended? That the Ordinance will never take effect, and has been made by 



12 

ami for the beiiciit of slavery ; is intended to be repealed when tlie rebels come 
home from the war ''. It is true that not one of these rebels can legally vote when 
lie comes home, nevertheless, they can and will repeal the Ordinance ! My 
friends, if this be a swindle, the swindlers are very numerous, and the honest 
men are very few. If it be a swindle, it was such as removed"slavery from Pensi- 
sylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. My friends, it 
is idle, worse tlian idle, to complain of the details of a great measure like this, 
when the vital question of the public necessity is fully met. Whether the end of 
slavery shall come in 1866, or 1868, or 1870, is not the vital matter. That slavery 
shall be put in gradual course of extinction, that ere long it shall cease, and cease 
forever, is the vital matter. It is not certain that the details of this great meas- 
ure were exactly acceptable to any one. To Mr. Broadhead, more than any of 
the eminent advocates of Emancipation, is the State indebted for the particular 
shape of the Okdinancji;. Yet I am confident it was not exactly what he desired. 
No man can go into a deliberative body and procure, in. all particulars, his own 
essential views. No sensible man expects it. A general result approaching 
nearly to his wishes, is satisfactory. Such a result is attained by the gkeat 
Ordinance. By its moral, no less than its legal power, slavery is destroyed in 
Missouri. From the moment of its enactment the prestige of the peculiar institu- 
tion was gone. It had no political power; no social inllucnce, and no future. 
From that moment it was to wane, and fall rapidly away. Our Charcoals may use 
their utmost power to prove that the Ordinance is to be repealed and slavery 
maintained in Missouri. No one will swallow the monstrous absurdity. Outside 
of Missouri the whole anti-slavery world, with a few exceptions, hail the action 
of the Convention with acclamation of delight. 

They regard it now as posterity will regard it — as the salvation of Missouri. 
Tiiat the Convention had no power lo pass this Ordinance, has never been asserted 
by the Charcoals with half the vehemence that they have proclaimed the contrary. 
The Convention wisely judged that tlieir loyal constituents would promptly ratify 
their work. They have done so. No great political reform was ever more cor- 
dially or more gratefully embraced by any people than this Ordinance has been by 
the people of Missouri. AVhat has just transpired, my friends, in Missouri, is 
soon to be re-enacted in Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland and Delaware. These 
States will follow ]\lissouri in the work of emancipation. The march of our 
armies, the acts of confiscation, the President's proclamation, and other measures 
of military necessity wisely adopted by him to weaken the power of the rebellion, 
will destroy slavery in all the residue of the national domain. These four mil- 
lions of people are to pass from their state of servitude to that of freedom. Lei 
us begin to regard this as the inevitable dciwiievient of the mighty drama, 
whose scenes are sweeping rapidly before us. I see nothing but a miraculous 
interposition which can prevent the result, and I look for no miracle in behalf of 
slavery. It is not tlie course of Providence. The political world will favor that 
issue. And, while thousands will reach forth the hand to precipitate, none will 
shed a tear over tlie fall of the institution. 

It is from this stand-point, my friends, that we are to look out upon the 
troubled sea and shape onr course. The current of events is raising great .jues- 
tions. Missouri, by her late Ordinance, is soon to have a large free negro popu- 



13 

lation of licr own. In I he mean time free negroea in greiit, iiumher.s have been 
pom-ing into oui- Hlatc from Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. What just and 
huuiane provisions shall be made for tiicse people '! Shall the eolorcd jiopulation 
have their permanent liomc among us? Sliall we have some liundreds of lliou- 
sands more of tiiem here? And what shall be the status of the negro in relation 
to the white man and his government '! A portion of the immediate emancipation 
j)arty have declared their policy to be tliat tlic freed negro shall remain on our 
soil, shall be granted full rights of citizenship, participating in all the functions 
of government and perfect social equality, amalgamating with the dominant race 
by means of the marriage tie. I am free to say, that in my judgment, this is not 
the interest of either of the races. That wisdom points to their separation. That 
Missouri should resist the influx of a negro jiopulation. That her own free 
colored people should be colonized. That the whole colored population of tiie 
nation should have some country of tlieir own. I do not say in South America, 
nor in Central America, nor in Mexico. I do not say that that country must be 
beyond the limits of the national domain. If one place is not practicable, another 
may be found that is. The American nation is justly chargeable, in the sight of 
God, with the care of this unfortunate people. 

My friends, I have already detained you too long. But you must allow me to 
say, that your first, your last, your greatest duty is to suppress the rebellion. 
More than ever, at this moment, does the Government need the earnest and active 
sympathy and co-operation of loyal men. llally to the support of the administra- 
tion and by whatever means you can command, by material or moral aid, ))y 
words of confidence and words of encouragement, uphold, support, and cheer the 
administration in its arduous labors. If for a moment you have lost confidence 
in its wisdom and energy, remember that you could not fully appreciate the difli- 
culties that surrounded it, and, in such case you should assume that Govcrnnipnt 
was doing its whole duty. You should observe that when Mr. Lincoln came to his 
great office, no man was ever confronted with more appalling diflBcultics — a 
gigantic rebellion was developed, its party thoroughly organized, trained, many 
of our most important forts and garrisons in tlie hands of conspirators, and all 
their preparations, financial and military, complete. On the other hand, the 
National Administration was perfectly helpless, the National resources in every 
department perfectly prostrate, the treasury robbed, the armories and arsenals 
turned over to the enemy, the army and navy corrupted, and all the avenues of 
public business, and official intelligence filled with traitors and spies who betrayed 
and thwarted the plans of Government. From such low estate the administration 
of Abraham Lincoln commenced its career. ^Vho can say that it has not been 
eminently successful ? Every hour has seen the Government, in his hands, devel- 
oping more and more a majestic power. The army, the navy, the treasury, tlic 
improved condition of industry and commerce, the personal comfort of the citi- 
zen, the success of our arms, the national character abroad, bear manifold 
testimony to the eminent patriotism and statesmanship of the President. By the 
unremitting industry and care, and the profound sagacity of the Administration, 
the rebellion is pressed to the wall, and if the people will only do their duty now, 
in sustaining the Government, in bringing into the field, promptly, the conscripts 
called for, a certain and bloodless and final triumph is near at hand. 



14 

My friends, 1 have told you your greatest duty is to suppress the rebellion. 
Rut why suppress the rebellion? To support your Constitution — to maintain 
your free form of government — lo preserve liberty. It is an incident to civil 
war to breed a revolutionary spirit — au impatience of restraint — a disregard for 
liiose regular proceedings and settled forms of justice which is subversive of a 
government of laws. 1 need not say to you tliat such a spirit is already rife in 
the land, and that good citizens are called upon everywhere to rise in their might 
and rebuke this fatal distemper of the times. You have seen its ill-boding ten- 
dency on the floor of the United States Senate and in the Representative Hall, 
liut nowhere has it manifested itself more fiercely than on the soil of your own 
State, where a party, calling themselves Radicals, have inculcated, directly and 
indirectly, lawless and revolutionary doctrines. Disapproving the State Admis- 
t rat ion, they have denied its authority under the Constitution and laws, and coun- 
seled resistance to its acts. Opposed to slavery, they cannot moderate their views 
to principles of government — cannot wait for the repeal of slave laws, statutory 
or constitutional ; but demand that these laws shall be disregarded and that civil 
process, emanating from our courts for the execution of these laws, shall be 
trampled under foot. Emancipationists, they resort to violence, appealing to 
force and to the power of the mob and the bayonet to dissolve the relation of 
master and slave, forgetting that the peace of society is all-important, and that 
" all things should be done decently and in order." Aspirants to office, they 
advise the holding of illegal elections in opposition to the plain law, and when 
sucli an election is thrown out, they complain of oppression and incite violence. 
When they have broken the laws, they oppose the sitting of the court and burn 
the .ludge in effigy. Sworn to support, maintain and defend the Constitution, 
they do not hesitate to declare that the Constitution has ceased to have any force, 
whenever its provisions stand in their way. My friends, these alarming symtoms 
of a diseased state of the popular mind call for the most efficient remedies, and 
unless they are controlled by such means as the people alone can bring to bear, 
the most deplorable consequences must ensue. 

The fact is that the citizen of the United States has enjoyed liberty so long — 
has been so free from oppression as scarcely to know what it is. For fifty years 
he has never known how to appreciate his country, until he had turned his back 
upon her. It was when he crossed the Atlantic and stood upon the soil of France, 
where absolutism fcr centuries had so impressed itself upon the external forms of 
men that even now a Frenchman continues to whisper his thoughts, or shrug his 
shoulders in silence, that he comprehends in some good degree the value of free 
institutions. It was when he attempted to leave France, passing into some other 
portion of the continent, and was met by a system of espionage and extortions so 
annoying as to remind him sensibly of that unlimited commerce of persons and 
tilings, which was not the least of the glories of his native land. Did he find his 
way to Austria, where government kindly informs the people what political or 
religious books they may read ? or to Russia, where justice is sold by men in 
arms, and universal venality prevails ? A lesson of civil and religious liberty, 
never learned at home, was impressed upon his inmost soul. If, perchance, he 
turned his wandering stcjts towards Italy or Greece, it was only to observe how 
few of the bounties of nature were there permitted to relieve the wants of man. 



15 

I( was only to exclaim with the bard : 

" And yet how lovely In thine age of wop, 

Land of lost gotls and godlike men art tliou. 
Thy vales of evergreen — thy hills of snow, 
Proclaim thee nature's varied favorite now. 

"Thy fanes — thy temples to thy surface bow."' 
« * « * * * 

If in England he found a people comparatively free, hut groaning hencath the 
weight of overwhelming taxation. In the Southern portion of this continent he 
beheld a land rife with the most interesting spectacles of nature. Vast plains 
rich with agricultural and mineral resources, stretched out in the distance, herds 
of wild cattle grazed and roamed in countless numbers, gigantic forest trees with 
gigantic flowers, delighted the vision and filled the air with odors. There flowed 
the mightiest rivers of the earth ; there rose mountain ranges unsurpassed in 
beauty and sublimity, and often as he gazed upon this wild scenery, that majestic 
bird, the condor of the rock rushed by on wing of thunder, and cleft the rising 
storm and climbed the clouds. The rushing stream, the fust careering bird, were 
fitting emblems of liberty, but of a liberty unfortunately now, only symbolized 
by them. 

South America and Mexico once enjoyed free governments. More than a score 
of republics dwelt within their borders. They have all perished. I need not 
remind you how they perished. But the story is one of civil war. The sword 
was drawn first upon the enemies of liberty. Amid the rage of angry passions 
and the clash of arms her friends united with her foes on trampling in her sacred 
charters. Revolution succeeded revolution ; each mad wave efl"acing the traces of 
its predecessor, until, at last, force and fraud supplanted the reign of law, and he 
who had least property was safest from harpies who preyed without mercy on the 
vitals of society. On returning to his native land, such a traveler had no 
difficulty, in comprehending what is liberty, and what is that he calls his coun- 
try. It is something which he did not find in Russia, nor in South America. And 
now, my friends, what is that thing ? If it is not the soil beneath our feet, nor 
the sky above us ; if it is not air nor sun, nor natural scenery, where shall we 
find it? Undoubtedly in your form of government — in your Constitution. There 
your rights are secured. There your liberties are deposited. If you preserve 
constitutional governments, you preserve liberty. Abandon this and you have 
abandoned the life boat which would outride the storm. My friends, do you 
remember that when traitors conspired to overthrow your Government, they first 
declared themselves free from the obligations of the Constitution ? And do j'ou 
know that when Government would bind to it in most solemn form the allegiance 
of the citizen it demands, only that the citizen shall swear that " he will support 
and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.'' And why has 
it been made a perjury to violate this oath ? And why is the oS'enders on convic- 
tion adjudged infamous and incarcerated in the penitentiary ? Was it because 
the Constitution is a lifeless thing of no moment ? Two classes of persons during 
these troubles have repudiated constitutional obligations. Secessionists, with arms 
in their hands, have made open war upon them. Other secessionists not taking 
arms, but working insidiously in behalf of treason, have assaulted them with 
false friendship and misrepresentation. These profess unqualified devotion lo 



16 

tlic Constitution, because, as they see fit to lepresent it, it contains little that is 
good and almost everything that is evil. To our jaundiced eyes the Constitution 
is the very guardian of treason and foster spirit of rebellion. It forbids us to 
enlist volunteers, or levy conscripts ; it allows no sufficient army or navy ; it 
justifies every species of libel, sanctions mutiny and desertion, and makes loyalty 
a crime. Thus tlie mortal enemies of the Government falsely traduce its great 
organic law that they may destroy it. 

There is another class of enemies to the Constitution. These agree with the 
Secessionists in all tlicy say of its inefficiency, and demand that rcvolutionur;/ 
power shall he substiiuled for it. They say that it lacks the vigor necessary to the 
times. That it may answer very well for peace, but is unfitted for war. ^Vnd 
(heir notion is that the President is the head, not of a lawful government, but of 
a great revolutionary party, such as Napoleon and Cromwell led to the construc- 
tion of " new models " of government. These persons profess to be superlatively 
loy.al. And, doubtless, many of them tliink they are. But, my friends, loyal to 
what'.' Not to the Constitution, for that, they declare, has ceased to bind them ; 
n(jt to the Government, because independent of the Constitution there is no Gov- 
ernment. Loyal to certain leaders, in whom they confide. Loyal, perhaps, to a. 
party, or certain supposed purposes of a party, which for the present they trust 
and follow. Loyal to something they know not ; the plan, the conceit, the dream 
of the revolutionist. JNIy friends, you surely know that this is anarchy — wild, 
thoughtless, desperate anarchy. That nothing good can come of it; and if such 
opinions are to prevail extensively there will be no security for property, liberty 
or life. Let me conjure you to frown upon these unhallowed teachings, and scout 
from amongst you all who have the temerity to utter them. Appeal to your 
fellow-citizens to regard all siicli persons, whatever may be their intentions, as 
your and their enemies, and the enemies of your country. Rally to the supjiort 
of the Constitution, and demand that the laws shall be executed, for in noiiiino- 
else can you depend for peace and safety. 

And now, my friends, allow me to assure you that despite the misrepresenta- 
tions of friends or foes, the constitutional Government under which you have 
lived so long and so happily, is equal to all emergencies, its power has never 
been found wanting yet ; save when the people failed to use it — eitlicr " to exe- 
cute the laws," "suppress insurrection,'' or "repel invasion." Only let the 
people do what tlie Constitution enjoins, and all will bo well. Wiien the people 
violated their Constitution, war and misery ensued. The moment they siiall coui- 
I'ly with their Constitution, peace and happiness will return. 

THE KKSOLl'TIONS. 

The following arc the resolutions adopted at the meeting addressed hy I\Iv. 
Gi.ovKii. 

1. Rrsolved, That we recognize in .M)raham l>incoln an ardent patriot and a wise 
Ktalesman; that, as President of the United States, respect, and obedience are due 
to liis authority; that we herewith announce our determination to sustain him in 
Ills tlfortsto put down tho rel)ellion, and restore the supremacy of the Constitution 
iiM.l the juillioriiy of the (Jovc'rmiient ; that, in the performance of this great task, 
we assert that he uliould have the syiiinathy and co-operation of every loyal citi- 
zen ; that, as citizens of Missouri, our special gratitude is due to him for the 
zealous support lie has given to the system of emancipation which has been 



17 

adopted by the State, and also for tlie ever prompt and efficient exercise of the 
armed power of the Government in our behalf: we affirm that tlte Constit\itions of 
the United States and of Missouri are the higliest laws for the governinent of our 
political action, and tliat in every emergency the Constitutitmal jiower of the 
Federal and State Governments is. and we pledge ourselves to sustain him in all 
measures calculated to preserve the lo3'alty of tlie State, and promote the tran- 
((uility and security of the people, suthcient for maintaining and perjietuating it 
in all its attributes; we also maintain tliat the welfare of Missouri demands that 
the laws of the State, while unrepealed, shall be enforced, and that it is the duty 
of all good citizens to aid and assist in the enforcement thereof, and to encourage 
and support the civil authorities therein. 

2. Resolved, That Avhile we earnestly desire the return to the people, at the 
earliest practical moment, of the right to choose their own rulers, we yet fully ap- 
prove the action of the Convention in continuing the State Administration in 
power until the period of the next regular election, believing, while in many of 
the counties it is impossible to collect the revenue or to administer justice tlirough 
the instrumentality of the courts, that any election of State officers would create 
dangerous excitement and involve unnecessary risk; and we further declare that 
we have full confidence in the loyalty, uprightness and patriotism of Governor 
Gamble. 

o. Eesolccd, That proclaiming as we do our allegiance to tha Constitution and 
the Government as the paramount obligation, we hold it to be our duty to denounce 
traitors at heart all who counsel resistance to the authority of tlie one, or disre- 
gard for the obligations of the other; the doctrine of nullification being the root 
from which secession and rebellion have sprung. 

4. Resolved, That regarding slavery as an unqualitied evil to our State and peo- 
ple, we cordially apjjrove the policy of emancipation, and accept the Odinance 
as the best settlement of the question attainable under the circumstances, and we 
shall look to the General Assemblj' for such additional action as shall be found 
necessary to give eff'ect to the policy of freedom established by tliat great organic 
law. 

5. Resolved, That the right of the Convention to adopt any measure calculated 
to wed Missouri more closely to the Union being unquestioned, and the institution 
of slavery constituting, as it did, a bond of sympathy between this State and the 
rebel States, the right of the Convention to decree its extinction in the State is so 
evident that none deny it, except slavery perpetuationists and tlie revolutionary 
faction, which would peril the cause of freedom in the hope of winning licentious 
power. 

G. Resolved, That the coalition of slavery perpetuationists and certain professed 
Emancipationists formed in the Convention, and sought to be formed throughout 
the State, in opposition to the best measure of emancipation attainable, is the 
highest evidence of the insincerity of those who, in the name of freedom, seek only 
to promote their own factions and selfish schemes. 

7. Resolved, That INIissouri, having decreed the manumission of her slaves, 
without compensation from the General Government, or any other aid, she will 
also, if need be, rely solely on herself to take care of this class of her population 
by provident and humane legislation, but as this will tax her capacity and re- 
sources, and as each State (with or without the co-operation of tlie Federal Gov- 
ernment) should bear the burdens and inconveniences incident to its transition 
from slavery to freedom, we protest against the deportation of the freed men of 
other States to Missouri as unjust to our whole laboring population, as dceplj' preju- 
dicial to the interests of our own freed men, and as violative of our laws and Con- 
stitution. 

8. Resolved, That the separation of the white and colored races is demanded b}' 
the best interests of both, and, perhaps, by the safetj^ of the latter, which at least 
can onlj'^ attain its fullest development and most suitable social and political or- 
ganization when relieved from the ascendancy and overshadowing iriHuence of the 
white race; and, therefore, we re-affirm our adhesion to the great measure pro- 
posed by .Jefferson, and repeatedly recommended by President Lincoln, of assign- 



18 

iug to tlic negroes of this country ;i lerritoi'y of (heir own and a form ofgovern- 
mcnt adapted to llieir capacity and acquirements 

9. Jie.solrcii, That we arc unalterably opposed to amalgamation, or the equality, 
intermarriage, or fusion of the wliite and black races^a policy boldly avowed and 
advocated l>y revolutionary abolition leaders here and elsewhere; that we are not 
less hostile to the measures calculated to lead to such a lamentable result, and 
hence tiiat we will resist in every legitimate waj' the project of extending the 
elective franchise to negroes, or permitting them to share with the superior race 
in tlie government and legislation of the country. 

10. liesoh-ed. That the victories achieved by the national arms at Vicksbu'-g, Get- 
tysburg, Helena and Port Hudson afford cause for rejoicings and devout thanks to 
Almighty God from every loyal heart. 

That the Great West having, hy the indomitable valor of its troops, and the un- 
rivaled sagacity of its Gener.als, driven off every enemy from the Mississippi, it 
has the right to ask from the Government that every effort shall be made to secure 
to our people, without delay, the uninterrupted commerce of that river ; and the 
chairman of this meeting be instructed to communicate this resolution to the 
President of the United States by telegraph. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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